Bullock and Houseman free Grand West Couloir

Nick Bullock and Andy Houseman have made a rare repeat of the 1975 Gabarrou/Picard-Deyme Grand West Couloir on the West Face of the Aiguille du Plan (3,673m) above Chamonix.

After a snowy winter, the pair found the c700m route in very icy conditions and completed it in just nine hours: early repeats required at least one bivouac. However, they then took more than half this time to reverse the Midi-Plan Arête to the Midi téléphérique station.